Aggressive search and destroy sweeps through Tay Ninh province begin with Operation Attleboro for more than six weeks

End of 1966

North Vietnamese meet and decide to fight war with troops and diplomacy; more than 6,000 U.S. soldiers killed this year, whereas 61,000 VC killed; American troops in Vietnam total 385,000 and 60,000 sailors are offshore

By Henry KissingerWe fought a military war; our opponents fought a political one. We sought physical attrition; our opponents aimed for our psychological exhaustion. In the process we lost sight of one of the cardinal maxims of guerrilla war: the guerrilla wins if he does not lose. The conventional army loses if it does not win. The North Vietnamese used their armed forces the way a bull-fighter uses his cape â€" to keep us lunging in areas of marginal political importance. Foreign Affairs, 1969By Jimmy CarterThe destruction was mutual. We went to Vietnam without any desire to capture territory or impose American will on other people. I don't feel that we ought to apologize or castigate ourselves or to assume the status of culpability. Quoted in the LA Times, 1977By Muhammad AliWhy should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No Iâ€™m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality.By Robert S. McNamaraI donâ€™t object to its being called McNamaraâ€™s war. I think it is a very important war, and I am pleased to be identified with it and do whatever I can to win it. Obituar, 2009